The European Commission published its latest report on Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive implementation which confirms that work is progressing well but that collection and treatment compliance rates could still improve. According to the report, most EU-15 urban waste water collection systems are very effective and capture 99% of their target waters.

The latest report on implementation of Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWT) for the period 2007/2008 published by the Commission shows that work is progressing well but that collection and treatment compliance rates could still improve. It reveals that most longstanding EU Member States maintained good standards of waste water treatment and improved on treatment of sensitive waters.

Among the conclusions reported, the Commission publishes that most EU-15 urban waste water collection systems are very effective and capture 99% of their target waters. However, there are still large variations regarding implementation of more stringent water treatment, but very high compliance rates have been reached in Austria, Netherlands and Germany; improvements were made in Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Sweden, and in the EU-12, especially in Lithuania.

In addition, according to the report, the total area designated as sensitive (eutrophic or at risk of becoming eutrophic), and requiring more stringent treatment, has increased from 68% to 73% since the last report. On the other hand, waste water treatment is well advanced in big cities, with more stringent treatment installations in place for 77% of such waste water. Some cities however still do not have adequate treatment, including four in the EU-15: Barreiro/Moita and Matosinhos in Portugal, Frejus in France, and Trieste in Italy.